Structural panels are used in commercial or industrial construction (and in some cases residential construction), for example, as a component of poured concrete floors or as structural roofing (e.g., for commercial buildings, industrial buildings, institutional buildings, or the like). Structural panels may be typically manufactured from steel sheets, which may or may not be coiled. In order to increase the structural strength and the stiffness of the individual steel sheets, structural panels with longitudinal profiles are formed from the steel sheets via roll forming, break forming, bending, stamping, or other like processes. The structural panels are secured to each other in order to form the structural steel panel system when installed. These structural panels may be used as roof decking, floor decking, or wall panels. As such, corrugated structural panels may be used in a variety of building applications.
The panels are also connected to the other load resisting structural members of a building, such as steel beams, joists, walls, other structural elements, or the like. When the panels are connected to each other in a secure manner for roof or floor applications, the assembled structural steel decking system provides considerable diaphragm (or membrane) strength, which is used to transfer horizontal loads to the vertical and lateral load carrying components of the building. When the structural panels are used in wall systems, the structural wall panels are used to transfer vertical and lateral loads to the horizontal load carrying components.
In geographic regions that are prone to seismic activity (e.g., earthquakes) and/or high winds, the structural panels are solidly connected to each other and to the other load resisting structural members of the building so that the building is better able to withstand shear forces (e.g., horizontal shear forces and vertical shear forces) created by the seismic activity and/or high winds. The structural panels are connected to reduce, or eliminate excessive, out-of-plane separation (e.g., vertical separation between the sheets in the case of structural decking panels, or horizontal separation between the sheets in the case of structural wall panels; stated otherwise as out-of-plane movement in which the edges of the sheets move apart from each other) or in-plane movement (e.g., horizontal movement between the sheets in the case of structural decking panels or vertical movement between the sheets in the case of structural wall panels; stated otherwise as in-plane movement in which the sheets slip along the length of the edges). To this end, the sidelap between adjacent structural panels is joined in such a way as to create resistance in a direction parallel to the lengthwise extending axis of the sidelap to thereby carry loads (e.g., resist forces) and prevent displacement between the structural panels. In addition, the connection of the panels at the sidelap also creates resistance in a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise extending axis of the sidelap in order to carry loads (e.g., construction loads) and to maintain the structural integrity of the diaphragm strength of the system.